This is not an exhibition - "René Magritte: The Pleasure Principle" at Tate Liverpool

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The False Mirror (1928)

The Belgian surrealist René Magritte has been one of my favourite since my teens. This Friday, the biggest exhibition of his work for 20 years opens at Tate Liverpool:

"Magritte’s work has had an enduring effect on the art world, inspiring artists ranging from John Baldessari and Ed Ruscha to Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol. Magritte’s impact has also been felt throughout popular culture. Musicians such as Paul Simon, directors Jean-Luc Goddard and Terry Gilliam, and many writers and advertisers have all been influenced by Magritte’s famous images. 

Tate Liverpool’s exhibition will reveal the inspiration behind the artist’s celebrated style, focusing on the less explored aspects of Magritte’s life and artistic practice.

Paintings will feature alongside drawings, collages, examples of Magritte’s early commercial work and rarely seen photographs and films. The exhibition will include iconic pieces by the artist as well as some more surprising works, offering visitors a fresh insight into the intriguing world of Magritte. Not to be missed."

Definitely a must-see! For more information, opening times etc., visit the Tate Liverpool website.

BFI release Buñuel classics Un Chien Andalou and L'Age d'Or on Blu-ray complete with Mordant Music soundtrack

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The British Film Institute have just released Luis Buñuel's classics of surrealist film L' Age d'Or and Un Chien Andalou in a dual format Blu-ray/DVD edition. Although the initial information from the BFI seemed to suggest that Un Chien Andalou would only be available on the DVD and in Standard Definition, the final product makes it clear that Un Chien Andalou is also in HD, which is marvellous news!

Un Chien Andalou was Buñuel's debut as director, and was made in collaboration with his friend and fellow surrealist Salvador Dali. Although Buñuel and Dali's accounts of the making of the film do not always agree, it does seem clear that much of the film was improvised from Buñuel and Dali's own dreams. Both Dali and Buñuel make cameo appearances in the film. In addition to the canonical soundtrack added by Buñuel at the film's restoration in 1960 (the original was silent - the added soundtrack was based on the records Buñuel played behind the screen at the original 1929 performances) this release also includes a new score by Mordant Music specially commissioned for this release.

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L'Age d'Or was Buñuel's second, and more ambitious film, taking the surrealists's attack on bourgeois values mission even further (Jesus as a protagonist in the Marquis de Sade's 120 Days of Sodom is a particular favourite!) Featuring a cast that reads like a who's who of the surrealist movement (Buñuel himself, Paul Éluard, Max Ernst, Valentine Hugo, Valentine Penrose, Pierre Prévert) the BFI describe the film as "A sinister yet poignant chronicle of a couple’s struggle to consummate their desire - the film was banned and vilified for many years for it’s subversive eroticism and furious dissection of ‘civilised’ values."
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José Luis López-Linares and Javier Rioyo's feature-length Buñuel documentary A Proposito de Buñuel is also included, albeit only on DVD, as an extra.

For a long time, until the advent of home video, these films were difficult to see (I still remember the joy of seeing a fuzzy Un Chien Andalou for the first time - along with Kenneth Anger's Scorpio Rising - at a Cabaret Voltaire gig at Sheffield University in the early 80s) and whilst the age of the films and evident deterioration of the source materials means that the video quality can't be expected to match modern Blu-ray releases, I suspect that this is the best that these two important films will ever look. An essential purchase.

 

 

Being Colour exhibition | Mark Hollis & Jonathan Jefferies | 1-6 July 2011 at CentreSpace Gallery, Bristol

Les demoiselles by Jonathan Jefferies

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Castles In The Air by Mark Hollis
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"Being Colour is an exhibition of the selected works of the artists Jonathan Jefferies and Mark Hollis.  It is a celebration of life in colour."

More information at the Being Colour website.

Nurse With Wound, Mika Vainio & Bruce Gilbert live at Netaudio festival, London 15 May 2011 - a must see!

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Steve Stapleton/NWW picture by Jim Donnelly

Playing as part of the one-day festival Netaudio London 2011, the legendary Nurse With Wound headline at Koko with support from a new live collaboration from Mika Vainio (ex-Pansonic) and Bruce Gilbert (ex-Wire) and a performance from Australian trio Radian. 'Early Bird' tickets are a snip at £18, going up to £22 after that.